Sprout Magazine

Magic: The Gathering: Deck Types: Mana Ramp

Magic: The Gathering, more commonly known as simply Magic, is the first collectible trading card game. It was released by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. A player can create his own deck using cards he obtains through booster packs, etc. He is then able to play against other players, who will have a deck of their own. This is what makes a trading card game so interesting. It allows for each player to customize their own deck to suit their play style or utilize the cards they have in the best possible way.

In a game, each player has a deck of at least 60 cards. There can be more than 60 in a deck but 60 is recommended as it helps you to draw your best cards. One cool thing about Magic cards is that they are made to work together, unlike Yu-gi-oh, which focuses on the power of individual cards. Each cards requires mana to cast, which is obtained mainly from land cards. Each land card has a specific color, which can only be used to summon certain cards. This means that you will need to fill your deck with cards that can use that color. This is a direct cause of themed decks, which are much more interesting than packing a deck with as much power as you can manage.

One of the easier to grasp deck types is called Mana Ramp. This deck type strives to get lots of land onto the field quickly in order to bring huge, devastating creatures onto the field that are simply too big for the opponent to handle. This deck type mainly runs green, which specializes in such strategies. You will need plenty of cards like cultivate and Ondu Giant to get lands from your deck onto the field as quickly as possible. The Mana Ramp deck is terrible at both attacking and defending if it’s caught without a large amount of mana to work with. By packing the deck with creatures like Baloth Woodcrasher, Duskdale Wurm, Pelakka Wurm, and other giant creatures, it leaves less room for smaller creatures. In order to remedy some of these problems, it’s good to add a few smaller creatures, such as overgrown battlement and Llanowar Elves, that are able to add mana to mana pool, giving you more to work with. Other good options are Garruk’s Packleader, which will reward you for playing big creatures and the Leatherback Baloth, who is cheap, costing only three forests, which isn’t a problem for a mostly green deck, and it’s a 4/5 creature.

If you’re able to get large creatures out quickly and shut down the enemy offense, or get a big creature with trample onto the field and smash the enemy defenses, the Mana Ramp deck will shine. However, unlike many decks, the Mana Ramp deck is able to actually win even if it doesn’t obtain an early advantage. It is able to win a war of attrition as it puts larger creatures onto the field than the opponent can, and a well timed overrun can absolutely demolish the enemy defense for an easy kill.

Aside from a lack of mana, the biggest threat to a Mana Ramp deck are blue and black interrupt and removal spells (respectively), which can prevent you from getting your big creatures onto the field. It is good to have spells like autumn’s veil handy, or play creatures with hexproof, shroud, and regenerate. If you’re able to get your creatures onto the field, you should have an easy win laid out for you.